


Under These Fluorescent Lights, We Love

by grungedirection



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: M/M, Retail AU, after hours shenanigans, cute stuff basically, meet cutes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-24 21:56:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12021813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grungedirection/pseuds/grungedirection
Summary: Isak needs money. Isak applies for jobs. Isak gets hired. Isak starts working retail. Isak meets Even (except meeting Even wasn't a part of the plan).OrA story about how two boys flirt circles around one another while restocking shelves, helping customers and exploring malls after hours.





	Under These Fluorescent Lights, We Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This will mainly be a story based on lived experiences. Also, this story goes out to you if you ever worked retail. Keep fighting the good fight and remember to one day overthrow the capitalist overlords :~)

His stomach churned. Today was his first day at his new job. Unacquainted with the skills and expectations that came with working at the second largest store in the city’s mall (this fact was very important to his new manager), Isak was nervous to say the least. 

Previously a paperboy, a shopping cart collector at the local grocery store, and the community lawn mower, Isak knew nothing about working retail. He didn’t even know much about shopping for that fact, having his mum pick up his necessities, t-shirts, snapbacks and tube socks, when they ventured into the county mall on her good days.

Since moving into the kollektivet, Isak hadn’t bought any new clothes. He had only collected material items, absorbing a few of Eskild’s many t-shirts and lounging shorts (what Eskild called them- not that Isak didn’t refer to them as that in his head). If Isak hadn’t handed them back to Eskild, that was surely not his fault, entirely blamed on Eskild’s failure to recognize his belongings were no longer nestled within the pine draws that crowd his room.

Unfamiliar with the layout of the mall, as he hadn’t been in more than a year and never stayed long enough with his mom for the twists and turns to permeate his mind, Isak arrived twenty minutes before his first shift, making sure he didn’t lose himself in the masses of people, products, and pagodas that dotted the mall’s hallways. 

Vaguely remembering where his new place of employment, 718, was nestled within the chaotic layout of the commercial metropolis due to having been there the week before for his interview, Isak felt, for the first time that day, triumphant as he turned to the left and spotted 718 in his line of vision. 

Dressed in a black pair of jeans and his best blue button-up, yeah he separates his shirts based on level of fanciness, Isak made his way towards the store, all the while mentally chanting, “Isak it’s just a job. Retail isn’t hard, right? The people there will like you!”

Sensing that Isak had just stepped past the threshold of his new place of employment, the boy’s hands became moist, and his heart began to beat erratically. The positive chant that filled his newly buzzcut laden head with support died off quickly, leaving him with no coping mechanism and sweaty palms.

Hunching his back, the blonde boy turned to the nearest t-shirt display, feigning interest. He couldn’t do this. He never worked retail before. He was nerdy, 17 with a love for Batman that didn’t dwindle with age. He wasn’t good with people, or at least, people didn’t tend to like him. So what made him think his coworkers and customers here would?

Isak sunk further into the rouse of being a customer, not yet ready to face his manager, his coworkers, and his new found responsibilities.

His converse squeaked on the wood floors as he dragged his feet from clothing display to clothing display, but Isak couldn’t be assed to care, his mind too busy trying to control his thoughts.

He hadn’t wanted to pick up a second summer job. Mowing lawns in the heat made him tired enough, but he needed the money. Rent money and living expenses were supposed to be covered by his ghost of a father, that he knew. But he also knew his dad never funnelled the money into his account.

In came his application to 718, the store Jonas raved about bi-weekly. (“Is, they have the best snapbacks. I coordinate them with my skateboards, dude are you listening to me?” “Bro, the sick shirt I’m wearing right, it’s from 718.” “So I went with Magnus to Lids yesterday and I picked up a few band tees, awesome, yeah?”) Mowing lawns couldn’t pay for the kollektivet, public transportation, food and the occasional blunt alone, the food and blunt alone, maybe, but not the full cost. So, the nervous teen hopped online after a long day of Magnus fishing for compliments about his new t-shirt (“But bro it has skateboarding stick figures, how cool is that?!”), Google searched “718 Jobs Oslo” and submitted the survey that popped up after his search.

Two days later he got a call from Nick, the manager, who just so happened to know Eskild (Isak didn’t ask how and didn’t particularly want to know, if the blush on Nick’s cheeks at the mere mention of his flatmate’s name was any indication). 

A week after applying he had an interview. And now, seven days after that interview, he stands in 718, pretending to be a customer, unready for his retail journey to start.


End file.
